


Notice

by herasux



Series: Toriko/Zebra: Little Moments [2]
Category: Toriko (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 22:04:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herasux/pseuds/herasux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Komatsu notices a change in his partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Notice

Bringing the soup spoon to his lips, Komatsu sipped lightly as he enjoyed the aromas coming from the Hotel Gourmet's kitchen, but his face had a slight bit of tension to it as his thoughts were elsewhere. The Shark Fin Soup was coming along great, but... Returning the spoon to the pot with a sigh, he stirred it for a few moments before taking the spoon out, cleaning it off, and sitting it down. It wouldn't do to allow himself to drift off when he was cooking, but he couldn't help but allow his thoughts to stray.

Just outside the kitchen – in the hotel's main room – sat Toriko and Zebra (with the tanned hunter being the taller of the two of only slightly) were appearing to be getting along well tonight. There hadn't been a peep out of either one of them today argument-wise, but Toriko's loud laughter was apparent, drifting from the main room into the kitchen with ease. That was normal, of course, as Toriko was normally a cheerful guy who was gifted with the power to make people believe in a better, brighter future, but Zebra's laughter - deep and surprisingly _rich_ \- joined in which made Komatsu wonder if they were sharing a private joke between them. Alcohol and Mellow Cola were in abundance though, so maybe that was why they were in such good moods, but...

Recently, he had noticed a bit of a change in his partner, Toriko; it actually wasn't something huge and noticeable like one would think, no – it was more of a subtle change that could only be picked up on after spending a huge amount of time with the tall Gourmet Hunter. Nowadays on missions, it took Toriko a bit longer to get up in the mornings when he was usually more than ready to go once the sun was high in the sky. There were also less common moments where the hunter seemed to be far away, not even hearing a word Komatsu had said, but always responding by rubbing the back of his neck with an apologetic expression before saying, "Ah, _sorry,_  Komatsu." His spacing out and new goal to sleep-in as long as possible weren't what truly worried Komatsu, just something that he had noticed. The real thing that was worrying him was the fact that Toriko was spending less time with him, enough to have Komatsu feeling a bit lonely at times, but then Toriko came right back and things were normal again ... until the hunter decided he had other, more important things to do that didn't involve Komatsu. It hurt some because they were partners, but Komatsu knew that he should be more understanding.

Toriko was a Gourmet Hunter and bound to have more important, _dangerous_ tasks at hand, but ... Komatsu knew that he had more than proved that he could handle whatever the Gourmet World dished out as they had been on several missions together!

Walking over towards the sink, he turned on the water and washed his hands quickly before moving to wipe them on the towel he had set aside on the sink's wooden counter.

" - HOW IMPORTANT IS HE TO YOU, **HUH**?!"

Komatsu jumped at the sound of Zebra's booming voice - heated and _furious_ \- and clutched at his chest, grabbing hold of the fabric of his uniform tightly as sweat began to bead upon his forehead. It seemed that the pair of hunters had reached some sort of disagreement, but never had he heard Zebra so ... so **angry**.

"YOU _KNOW_ HOW IMPORTANT HE IS TO ME, ASSHOLE!"

Swallowing lightly at the sound of Toriko's voice, annoyance seeming to be giving way to anger, Komatsu nibbled at his lower lip lightly as he tried his best to distract himself by checking on the rest of the meals. He was alone tonight as the hotel had closed at least an hour ago, meaning that he had the kitchen to himself and that was definetely the way he liked it.

"YOU CAN'T GO ONE DAY WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT HIM!"

"TCH! OF COURSE I CAN'T: HE'S MY _PARTNER_!!"

Eh? Komatsu blinked and glanced over at the door that led out into the hall, hand clutching the wooden spoon in his hand tightly. Were they ... talking about him ... ? They had to be - Toriko had no other partners, but why were they arguing about him of all things?? It didn't make sense to Komatsu. Had he done something?

A loud bang of fists slamming down upon the table and a scraping chair sounded, meaning one of them had stood up, but Komatsu didn't dare go out there to stop them, frozen now.

" _Partner_ , huh? There's more than one meaning to that and you know it, **Toriko**." _  
_

"Zebra, it's _not_ like that - You know it's not like that - ! Komatsu is ... my partner."

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ASKED ME TO COME HERE, BUT HE'S ALL YOU CAN TALK ABOUT, _BASTARD_!"

A chair scraped against the floor and then fell over completely, meaning that Toriko had stood up now, angry as well.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, YOU DUMBASS! I DO WANT YOU HERE."

"TO THINK YOU'RE COCKY ENOUGH TO PLAY AROUND - "

A heavy thump cut off Zebra's words which unfroze Komatsu hurried over to check on the Shark Fin Soup with shaky hands. Were they ... were they having some kind of ... lovers' quarrel? The idea of it shocked Komatsu, but he wasn't against it if that's what it was, but there was no way he wanted Toriko like _that_ \- of course, he couldnt' very well go out and say that right now. He had his own special person and it _wasn't_ the blue haired hunter.

"F - _FUCK YOU_ \- "

"EH?! TCH!"

After that, it seemed that Zebra had nothing more to say on the matter, but there didn't appear to be any scuffling going on that Komatsu could hear, so he forced himself to walk towards the exit and peek out into the main room from the hallway.

Toriko was leaned over ontop of Zebra who was spread out on the bright red, gold trimmed carpet, a few feet away from the hotel's biggest table with his hands fisting the tanned hunter's hair; his mouth was busy, meshed against Zebra's own, and to be quite honest, Komatsu could see that Zebra appeared to be enjoying himself the way he kissed back fiercely as his own hands clutched at the back of Toriko's white suit which contrasted with his own, darker, suit. Having never seen such a passionate embrace before, it made Komatsu feel a little ... kind of like a kid, even though he was the same age as the Kings. ... Would his stitching even hold up against that? Ah - such a trivial thought.

Any attempt not to flush with embarrassment was futile when Toriko finally pulled away and glanced up with an expression of triumph, now noticing Komatsu there peeking out of the kitchen from behind the open door.

 _Dang_. Well, there was no going around it now, and Zebra definetely wouldn't be happy about that, but having Komatsu see him in a position like this was embarrassing. ...At least he couldn't see Zebra's expression - delicious was what it was and he had been complimenting licking at the stitching which never failed to produce a shiver when he had noticed Komatsu. _Double dang_. They'd just have to continue later.

The blue haired hunter mirrored that flush as Zebra continued to lay there, not bothering to crane his neck to see what Toriko was looking at because the unique sound of Komatsu's heartbeat was something that Zebra was familiar with; glancing down at the tanned hunter once more, his gaze returned to Komatsu, but he made no move to leave his spot ontop of Zebra.

"Ah, _sorry_ , Komatsu - Oh! The food will be done soon, huh? Make sure to give Zebra _triple_ helpings, okay?"

"Y - Yes," the little chef squeaked, hurrying back into the kitchen without another word, unable not to help feeling a little silly for worrying about Toriko.

There wasn't anything wrong at all; he was just _in love_.

**Author's Note:**

> Since "Taste" got at least one hit, I'm going to write another for "Toriko". Maybe a few more since there aren't many Toriko/Zebra fics out there.


End file.
